An ATM exchange system which handles fixed-length cells, such as an ATM exchange, is designed in such a manner that even when a failure occurs particularly in an interface unit or an ATM switch section, downstream stations can be informed of the failure reliably and that when some failure is detected, counting of a charge counter is disabled to always ensure proper charging. For a method of matching between software and hardware in the ATM exchange system including the ATM switch section having a plurality of line associated sections and firmwares associated with those line associated sections, and a call control processor for controlling the ATM switch section, identifiers of an SVC (Switched Virtual Channel) call and a PVC (Permanent Virtual Channel) call are given to connection information of software on the call control processor, connection data affixed with the identifier of the SVC call is released only on the software on the call control processor during a restarting process of the call control processor, and a request to release the SVC call to all the line associated sections in the hardware of the ATM switch section, whereby matching of path information between the software on the call control processor and the hardware of the ATM switch section is performed.